Ashour Claims Kuwait Crown

Egypt's Hisham Mohd Ashour overcame tired Englishman Alex Stait in the final of the KNPC Kuwait Championship in Kuwait to win his second PSA Tour title.

The top-seeded 23-year-old reached the final after just 15 minutes of semi-final action when his opponent Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, a fellow Egyptian, retired injured early in the second game.

By contrast, Stait had to complete his quarter-final match on semi-finals day after sustaining a 'contributed injury' the day before - then came through a dramatic five-game 82-minute marathon semi to earn his place in the final.

Stait was 2/0 ahead in his quarter-final against France's Julien Balbo, with the score at 9-9 in the third, when he sustained severe muscle cramp which caused the suspension of the match. Balbo clinched the unfinished game when the match was resumed, before Manchester-based Stait closed out the contest in the fourth.

A short time later, the 26-year-old Englishman was two games down in the semi-final against local hero Abdullah Almezayen before fighting back to beat the sixth seed 9-11, 9-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 11-6.

Tired Stait's state was evident in the final when, after battling for two games, the fourth seed was unable to offer much resistance in the final two games as he went down 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4 to Hisham Mohd Ashour in 43 minutes.

Ashour's success marks his second PSA title triumph since winning his first at the Athens Open in Athens in October last year.

Final:
[1] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [4] Alex Stait (ENG) 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4 (43m)